Good news first, and this was unexpected:
Source: Giants prevail in protest of tarp-snafu game. Game to be resumed at 4 pm Thursday before reg scheduled games. To start B5. Cubs 2-0.
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) August 20, 2014
I thought there was absolutely no chance of this happening.
This would be the first successful protest since 1986, according to Andrew Baggarly. Maybe MLB took a look at what the Cubs did to get the field in playing shape during the last two hours of last nights 4.5-hour delay (nothing, unless you count one guy raking) and realized the Giants were completely screwed. Which they were. But I still didn’t expect anything to come out of this besides, “Sorry, we’ll look at some rules changes this winter blah blah blah …”
Now the bad:
Brandon Belt (concussion) won’t do any baseball stuff for two to three more weeks. Doctors decided he needs rest.
— Alex Pavlovic (@AlexPavlovic) August 20, 2014
I guess this isn’t all that much of a surprise; if Brandon Belt’s condition was so poor that the Giants flew him out to a concussion specialist in Pittsburgh, it would’ve seemed crazy if he started playing rehab games this weekend. It’s too early to make any judgments on Belt’s career, but there seems to be a good chance that his 2014 season is over.
If Belt started doing “baseball stuff” in two weeks — which seems extraordinarily optimistic — Belt would be hitting balls off a tee on Sept. 3. Then he’d need to face live pitching. Running, which caused him to feel concussion symptoms on the day Marco Scutaro’s throw nailed him in the cheek during pregame warmups, would be another hurdle.
Belt suffered a massive, mysterious and dangerous concussion, one that may heal soon or never fully heal at all. It’s maddening, and very sad for a player who looked like he might be on the verge of breaking out and becoming one of the top first basemen in the game. The bright side is that the Giants seem to be taking every precaution with Belt. Hopefully the same can be said for Hector Sanchez, who has already taken two foul balls off his mask in the minors.
